Atkins, one of the world's leading design, engineering and project management consultancies, now has major contracts with DONG Energy for the detailed engineering design of eight offshore substations. Previous contracts covered the offshore substations at the planned Burbo Bank Extension, Race Bank, and Walney Extension offshore wind farm projects in the UK.

DONG Energy has set a goal of reducing the cost of electricity produced by its offshore wind farms costs by 35 to 40 per cent for projects given the green light from 2020 onwards.

Brent Cheshire, DONG Energy's UK Country Chairman, said:

"Standardising the design of major components is an important step towards reducing the cost of electricity generated by our future offshore wind farms. This contract builds on the offshore substation design work which Atkins is already undertaking for us.

"With the UK leading the world in the deployment of offshore wind technology, DONG Energy believes it is important that investments feed through to the local supply chain."

"Our long-standing relationship with DONG Energy demonstrates how the move to a standardised approach for marine renewables design and engineering can drive down costs at the same time as maintaining standards and remaining innovative in our approach. Atkins is a leader in the engineering design of offshore structures, and we are proud to be assisting DONG Energy in the transformation of the UK's offshore wind sector."

Hornsea Project One is located 120 kilometres off the Yorkshire coast and covers approximately 407 square kilometres. The project is scheduled to commence operation by 2020 when it would become the world's first gigawatt scale far from shore wind farm.

Notes to editors:

About DONG Energy:DONG Energy is one of the leading energy groups in Northern Europe. Our business is based on procuring, producing, distributing and trading in energy and related products in Northern Europe. Headquartered in Denmark, DONG Energy has around 6,500 employees, including 600 in the UK. The Group generated DKK 73 billion (EUR 9.8 billion) in revenue in 2013. For further information, see www.dongenergy.co.uk